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Kyle Bishop profiles Indians catcher Roberto Perez as a waiver wire pickup and add in Week 16 of the 2019 MLB season.
BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues
OWNED IN: 24% of leagues
ANALYSIS: There may be no stronger argument for the juiced ball than the fact that Roberto Perez has 16 home runs and a .527 slugging percentage. Entering the season, the 30-year-old backstop had just 21 homers and a .340 SLG. Due to this lack of production, he had only been a backup in his first five MLB seasons on the strength of his defense and the ability to draw walks at an above-average clip.
Perez's success isn't a complete fluke; he's definitely making harder contact and barreling the ball more than before. Per Statcast, his .366 weighted on-base average is only seven points higher than what we would expect based on his batted ball data. He's not going to keep hitting homers on 35 percent of his fly balls, of course, but there's enough here to justify a roster spot in many formats.
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